Grayson couldn't sleep without Ethan, it wasn't something he was proud of considering he was 17 years old, but his anxiety would keep him up all night without him. Ethan has always accepted this and been there for Grayson, being sure to never make him feel bad about not being able to sleep without him. Ethan loves to make Grayson feel cared for and protected, and this arrangement lets him do just that. Only today Ethan and Grayson got into a fight, normally they'd forget about the fight within a few hours but this time Ethan was really pissed and refused to even look at Grayson for the rest of the day. So when nighttime rolled around Grayson didn't know what to do, he definitely did not feel welcome to go sleep in Ethan's bed like he normally did but he knew he'd likely have a panic attack without him.

After finding Ethan's door locked he realized he had to suck it up for the night, so he did everything he could think of to get into a relax state and hopefully ward off his anxiety. He drank chamomile tea, lit his 'stress relief' candle, wrapped himself up in a heated blanket and snuggled his childhood teddy bear. None of it helped though when he took in the silence of the room, the sound of Ethan's breathing missing. His own breathing picked up as the familiar pit of anxiety entered his stomach making him shiver in an unpleasant way. His hands shaking as he held tighter to the bear in his hands. The worst part of this was there was nothing he could do, sleeping in Ethan's room wasn't an option, he had to make it through the night by himself. Suddenly sweaty Grayson climbed out from under the heated blanket and off his bed, scooting to the corner where his panic attack consumed him

Ethan, having forgotten his door was locked, wondered where Grayson was. Sure they'd had a pretty bad fight and Ethan got pretty angry over it but Grayson couldn't actually think he'd make him deal with his anxiety all by himself. Before them sleeping in the same bed became a permanent thing Ethan almost lost Grayson to his previous coping method, he never wanted that to happen again. Ethan didn't exactly know what to do, Grayson must be pretty mad if he decided to sleep in his own room but he was also too protective of Grayson to feel comfortable leaving him alone. In the end he decided he would just check up on Grayson, if he was already sleeping he'd leave him alone.

When he went to leave his room he realized his door was locked this whole time. His heart dropped a little, Grayson probably thought he locked him out on purpose.

"Sh!t" he quickly made his way over to Grayson's room and soon realized Grayson definitely didn't voluntarily chose to sleep by himself. He was pressed into the corner, head buried in his knees, and he was struggling to breath.

"Gray, oh my gosh" he whispered. Grayson looked up at him with terrified eyes, "Eth?" Ethan rushed over to Grayson and pulled him into a hug, "it's okay bud, I'm here now" Ethan mumbled as he rubbed his back. Ethan was the only one who was allow to touch Grayson when he got like this which Ethan was thankful for because he had no idea how he'd handle this situation if he couldn't hold Grayson.

"I thought you were... mad at me" Grayson said between shaky breaths, his hands gathering fistfuls of Ethan's sweater.

"I was but I overreacted, I'm sorry" Ethan said honestly

"It's okay... sorry I'm such a baby."

"You're not a baby okay? Everyone struggles with something." Ethan said.

Grayson stayed silent. "Do you want to move to the bed?" Ethan asked

"Not yet," Ethan could tell Grayson was still trying to get his breathing and shaking under control. After a few minutes Grayson felt calm enough to move back onto his bed with Ethan. They wrapped themselves up in the blankets, and Grayson lied his head on Ethan's shoulder, Ethan's arm was around Grayson

"You're sure you're okay? You don't need your medication or anything?" Ethan questioned worried

"I'm good right here" Grayson said, already dozing off a little.

When Ethan was sure Grayson had fallen asleep, he gently looked over Grayson's arms, met with the sight of old scars. Ethan rubbed his thumb along the raised skin and sighed, kissing the top of Grayson's forehead whispering "never again

My first Dolan twins one shot completed, request a prompt in the comments!